Catching the Bad Guy (Book Two) (Janet Maple Series) (31 page)

“Yes, Alex. It was closed out right
after we spoke, as you requested. I have the file in my office. I could bring
it over if you’d like.”

Alex frowned. “A file for a nonexistent
complaint? I don’t believe we should be spending our resources on that. No
official complaint, no file.”

“I’ll shred it then.”

“Excellent. I’ll let you get back to
work,” said Alex, stepping aside.

When Janet got to her office her phone
was ringing. She shut the door and picked up. It was Laskin.

“Janet, can you stop by my office
please?”

“I’ll be right there.”

A moment later she was in Laskin’s
office.

“Shut the door behind you,” Laskin
instructed her calmly.

Janet did as she was told.

“Dennis has briefed me on the
situation,” Laskin began. “I’ve requested market watch reports on Rover and
Valley Metals.”

Just then, Dennis walked into Laskin’s
office. “Do you really think it’s a good idea for you to be seen here? Do you
want Alex to walk in on us?” Laskin snapped.

“Relax, I took precautions. Anyway, Alex
is busy getting a blowjob from Georgiana.”

“How do you know that?” Laskin’s voice
peaked with interest.

“I heard them from behind his office
door. The walls here are thinner than Mr. Kingsley realizes.”

“I knew it!” Janet exclaimed. “I saw
that floozy sitting on his knee before, and I thought that was funny. But I
never thought they would do it in the office.”

“If we do our job right, they won’t be
doing it for long,” said Dennis. “Peter, what have you got so far?”

“Option trades in Rover and Valley
Metals have spiked through the roof. The trades are broken up into small
pieces, but the overall size is almost twice the usual volume. It’ll be a pain
to trace these to Muller, but we’ll get it. He won’t be able to get the money
before the trades clear, and by that time we’ll have the information on the
accounts.”

Dennis nodded. “Good. I’m going to call
Ham.”

“Do you think he can help us?” Janet
asked.

“I sure hope so. He’s been in this
business long enough.”

“Then why didn’t he fight his
retirement?” Laskin asked.

“I don’t know. I guess he just got fed
up, but I know for a fact that he’s got friends in high places. I sure hope he
won’t be fed up now.” Dennis halted, about to leave. “How are you doing,
Peter?”

“Is that a serious question?” Laskin
peered at Dennis over the computer screen. “Other than losing the one woman who
could have been the love of my life, I’m doing peachy, just peachy.”

“You’ve got to talk to her, Peter,”
Janet cut in.

“And ruin the investigation?” Laskin
shook his head. “I couldn’t do that. I’ll just have to find myself a different
woman to fall in love with.”

“I understand that you can’t do it now,
but once the investigation is in the open, you’ve got to talk to her, Peter.
Sure, she’ll hate you at first, but chances are she’ll forgive you later. She’ll
need a friend, and you can be that friend,” said Dennis.

“Yeah, right, a friend who ruined her
life. I don’t think so.”

“Don’t be a chicken, Laskin. Take your
chances. I’m glad I did.” Dennis took Janet’s hand.

Laskin’s glance shot from Dennis to
Janet. “Are the two of you …? Finally! It sure took you long enough, Dennis.”

“Better late than never.”

“I’m afraid it’s never for me and
Aileen,” Laskin muttered. “Now, if you two lovebirds will excuse me, I’ve got
work to do.”

***

Back in his office, Dennis grabbed his
cell phone and dialed Ham Kirk’s number. “Ham?”

“Dennis! It’s so good to hear from you!
What have you been up to?”

“Ham, can you talk?”

“Of course I can talk. I’ve got all the
time in the world.”

The reception grew fuzzy. “Where are
you?” Dennis demanded, alarmed by this laidback-sounding Ham who was nothing
like Dennis’s old boss.

“I’m in Delaware, doing some fishing.
I’ve never had the time for it before, you know, but I’ve always loved it. It’s
a wonderful way to de-stress. My wife came up with me, but she is not an early
riser, so it works out perfectly. I have the mornings to myself, and then we
spend the days and evenings together.”

“Ham!”

“What? What’s the matter with you?”

“I am trying to tell you that I’ve got information
on Muller that’s going to put the bastard away once and for all, and you’re
carrying on about fishing.”

“Do me a favor, Dennis, and let that
whole thing go. It won’t do you any good to keep digging at that corpse.
Sometimes, you just have to cut your losses and move on.”

“What if I told you that I have proof of
Muller being involved with the attorney general and one of Rover’s executives?”

There was a pause on the other line.
“You’ve always been pigheaded, but then that’s why you’re so good at what you
do. I can’t promise anything, but I’m listening.”

Dennis bit his lip in order to keep
himself from cursing at Ham. Dennis spoke slowly and clearly as he brought Ham
up to date on everything that had transpired since Ham’s departure from the
Treasury.

When Dennis was finished, there was a
whistling sound on the other end of the line. “Are you sure you want to get
into this? It could get really messy.”

“Of course I’m sure, Ham. And I was
hoping that you would be willing to help me settle the score. Hell, I thought
you would want to settle the score.”

“Don’t get me wrong, Dennis. Of course I
want that, but I don’t want to put you in any danger. You see, I’ve got nothing
to lose: I’m retired; there’s nothing they could do to me. But they could
destroy you, and as much as I’d like to, I can’t guarantee that I’ll be able to
protect you. Although I promise to do my best.”

“That’s good enough for me.”

“In that case, I’m going to call my
friend on the senate subcommittee.”

“You’ve got friends on the senate subcommittee?”

“I’ve got one friend there and a very
good one.

“Then why didn’t you call him when they
booted you out of here?”

“I don’t like calling in favors.”

“But you’ll call in a favor for me?”

“Yes I will, Dennis. After everything
you’ve done to bring this case home, it’s the least I could do. I hope you
brought an extra large umbrella because it’s going to be a shit storm. I’ll
call you as soon as I have an update for you.”

Dennis hung up the phone. There were any
number of people he could have turned to—his old boss at the FBI, the head of
the SEC—but after learning what he had learned about Finnegan, where was the
guarantee that they, too, would not be corrupt? If there were one thing that Dennis
knew about Ham it was that Ham was honest, and that Ham never made promises
that he did not keep. Dennis clasped his hands. It was going to be a shit
storm, and he was prepared to face it.

What Dennis was not prepared for was the
chaos in his personal life. Not that he had not enjoyed the past two nights
with Janet; he had—immensely. What he did not enjoy was the realization of how
much he liked her, how much he—dare he think the word?—loved her. Dennis dug
his fingernails into his palms. What was wrong with him? He was acting like a
schoolboy out on a date for the first time. It was bad enough that he had
called Janet his girlfriend after only one night together, he was not about to
go professing love to her, even if he did feel it in his heart. But then he had
known Janet for far longer than one night, and he had been in love with her
ever since he had met her.

***

David Muller rang the door of Mila’s
apartment.

“Who is it?” The sound of Mila’s throaty
voice made David want to break down the door.

“It’s me, baby. Open up.”

The door opened, and David was treated
to the sight of Mila in a lacy corsage, complete with garter belt, stockings,
and black stilettos. She was holding a bottle of Dom Pérignon. Her fingers were
on the cork. “Do I open it?” She looked at him meaningfully.

“Pop it, baby.”

Mila popped the cork. The champagne
began to spill over. David leaned in and licked the foam off the bottle. He
kissed Mila hungrily. He had been waiting for this moment all day.

“David! The champagne is spilling!”

“Let it spill,” he mouthed. “We can
afford it.”

He shrugged out of his coat, dumping it
on the floor. And then he was holding her, hungry for the taste and feel of
her. He scooped her into his arms and carried her into the bedroom.

After he had finished making love to
her, David lay on the bed, spent and elated.

“So I take it everything went well?”
Mila asked.

“It went swimmingly. One more day and
we’ll be in the clear.”

Mila burrowed her face in David’s
shoulder.

“What’s wrong?” he asked.

“I’m worried. What if something goes
wrong?”

“Nothing will go wrong.”

“Are you sure, David?”

“Don’t you trust me?”

“Of course I trust you. It’s just that
…”

“What?”

“Whenever something good is about to
happen to me, I’m always afraid that things will go wrong.”

“They won’t. Not this time.”

“But once the merger is announced, the
regulators will start digging around. They’re going to get suspicious about the
trades you placed. What if they find us?”

“You’ve said it yourself: by the time
the merger is announced. By that time we will have gotten our money and be
gone. Let the dogs snoop around all they want while we’re drinking champagne
and eating caviar.”

“Mmm, sounds delicious.”

“Not as delicious as you are.”

David wrapped his arms around Mila,
rolling her on top of him. He loved the sensation of her toned body: her soft
breasts pressing against his chest and her toned stomach fitting neatly against
his. Her hair enveloped him with its silkiness and the warmness of her breath
made him feel like he was where he belonged. He loved her. One more day and
they would be in the clear. And then he was going to ask her to marry him.

The next day Mila Brabec and her cousin
Ania were sitting at a French brasserie on the Upper East Side. Mila watched
Ania consume a pear tart with a side of hazelnut ice cream. Ania could stand to
lose a good ten pounds. Instead, she was gobbling dessert, while Mila limited
herself to a café latte made with skim milk. But then Mila did not have the
luxury of Ania’s security. On the contrary, Mila’s situation was anything but
secure. She had not heard from David since morning, and it was already after
two o’clock. That in itself did not sound like such a long period of time, but
when put in the context of David usually calling her five times a day at a
minimum, it became exceptionally long. Worst of all was that she knew about the
risky venture that David was involved in. The man was walking on a wire.

“So,” said Ania, pushing the pear tart
away and dabbing her lips with a napkin. “When are you and David going to tie
the knot?”

“Soon enough.”

Ania made a tsking sound. “Soon enough
is a very ambiguous time frame, Mila, and you need certainty.”

“What do you suggest I do? Go back to
Prague and slave away as a bank clerk?” Mila snapped.

“What’s wrong with working at a bank?”
Ania shrugged her plump shoulders. “It’s a perfectly respectable job.”

A perfectly respectable job, Mila
resisted the urge to mimic Ania. I bet you would just love to see me wasting
away in some dump, wouldn’t you? I don’t see you lifting a finger since you
married Daniel. “I want to keep my options open,” was all she said out loud.

Ania frowned and placed another forkful
of the pear tart into her mouth. She chewed methodically for several moments
before she spoke. “I hardly think you’re keeping your options open, Mila. If
anything, you’re limiting them.”

“How’s that?” Mila asked sulkily. She
had made the mistake of arguing with her cousin, but she was not going to back
down now.

“It’s very simple, really. It’s not as
though you are gaining experience in your profession here. Instead, you are
wasting your life working as a waitress.”

Go ahead, why don’t you rub it in, Mila
thought. Still, as much as she hated to admit it, she knew that Ania had a
point. She sure as hell was not getting any younger, and as far as getting a
job in her field, the chances of that were also slim. Not that she wanted to
slave away as a bank clerk for the rest of her life. “I could go to school
here,” Mila ventured.

Ania almost choked on her coffee. “Go to
school here?” she repeated. “Why, I suppose you could if you qualified for a
scholarship. But you’d also need to keep working to cover your living expenses.
I imagine that would be difficult.”